


A Pretty Good Bad Idea

by Dresupi



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Gift Fic, Meet-Cute, One Shot, Soulmates, time stands still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 10:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9435086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: He shook his head rapidly and averted his gaze again.  “Just tell me your name and then forget about me.”“How am I supposed to do that?  You’re my soulmate!”“You just…you have to try.  You’ll be better off without me,” he repeated.  “I mean it.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Marvelfan35](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelfan35/gifts).



> Basically a little twist on the soulmate trope where when you meet your soulmate, time literally stands still until you've introduced yourselves. 
> 
> A little gift for marvelfanuniverse, who has waited so patiently for me to write her giveaway fic! I hope you enjoy it, hon! <3
> 
> Take a look at the photo set I made to accompany this fic, it's right [here](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/post/156252074709/a-pretty-good-bad-idea-by-dresupi-for).

“My name’s Beth and I’m going to take care of you, okay?” 

Beth clicked her pen and smiled down at the two men who’d just sat in her section.  Her first customers.  Sure, she wasn’t super excited about having to resort back to waiting tables, but it was the only thing she had experience with.  And moving clear across the country just wasn’t a cheap thing to do.  Not in the slightest.  

At least the cost of living here was about the same as it had been in Manhattan.  And she was far, far away from the place that had given her so many nightmares.  Just about as far away as she could be without moving to another country.  

“What can I get for you two gentlemen?”  

She’d noticed one of them roll the other in here in a wheelchair.  They looked similar, so she guessed they were probably brothers.  

The one on her left spoke up first. The one in the wheelchair.  “I’ll have coffee and the number five,” his finger tapped the picture on the menu.  “With scrambled eggs, please.”  

“And for you, sir?”  She turned towards the other one.  The one with the sad eyes and the apparent inability to look into hers.  He was still staring down at the menu.  

“Robbie?”  His companion snapped his fingers.  “Your turn, man.”  

“Oh…I’ll…I’ll have the same,” he said, handing her his menu without a second look.  

“Got it.  Cream for your coffee?”  

He turned, looking up at her for the first time since she’d approached the table, and that’s when it happened.  The only reason she noticed was because Lois, the other server on the clock was walking behind her when time stopped.  Mickey, the grill cook was mid-flip into a pancake and the busboy whose name she hadn’t learned yet was bussing table nineteen ridiculously slowly, even for him.  

“Oh my god, it’s you…” she gazed down into his dark eyes.  “You’re him, aren’t you?”  She felt a smile playing at her lips.  Her soulmate.  She’d never expected to meet him like this.  In a gray and yellow polyester uniform, smelling of pancake syrup and the imitation butter they gave people here.  In squeaky new black server shoes.  

And he was…he was…

He wasn’t bad.  Not bad at all.  

He gulped, looking away from her.  “I think so.  I think I’m him…and I’m sorry.”  

“Robbie?” she repeated the name she’d heard his friend call him earlier.  His friend that was probably his brother, but she didn’t know yet.  

“Reyes,” he completed his name, prompting time to jump slightly.  Mickey finished his pancake flip.  Once she introduced herself, time would catch back up again.  But she wasn’t ready for that yet.  She wanted to relish this moment.  

“I didn’t think I’d ever find you,” she admitted.  

“Yeah?  Well, I hoped and prayed I wouldn’t…you’re better off without me.”  Robbie stood and grabbed his coat, walking around to stand behind his companion’s chair.  “Tell me your name so I can leave.  Take my brother with me and we’ll never darken your doorway again.”  

She frowned.  “What?  But why?”  

“Why?  Because I’m no good, that’s why…” He tilted his head.  “I’m no good for anyone, okay?  It’s not you, I’m sure you’re lovely…you  _ are _ lovely…I just…” He shook his head rapidly and averted his gaze again.  “Just tell me your name and then forget about me.”  

“How am I supposed to do that?  You’re my soulmate!”  

“You just…you have to try.  You’ll be better off without me,” he repeated.  “I mean it.”  

She pressed her lips together indignantly.  “What’s wrong?”  

“We don’t have the time,” he said with a slight scoff.  

“I think that’s all we have, if you’re so determined never to see me again.  I think I deserve an explanation at least.  If I’m supposed to go on with my life like I haven’t met the love of it and he doesn’t want anything to do with me.”  

“You look like a nice girl…a nice woman.  You’re pretty.  You’re…kind, I think.  You can find someone else.”  

“Dude…do you know how soulmates work?” Beth asked, frowning slightly.  “As I’ve heard it told, we’re stuck with each other.  We’re just going to keep running into each other until we can’t ignore it anymore.”  

“I’ll never come back here again.  And if you don’t come looking for me…it won’t be an issue.”  

“How can I promise something like that?”  

“You have to.  Because I’m a monster.  I’ll only hurt you.”  

She stopped short of her next sentence.  “What kind of monster? No offense, but I was in the battle of New York…I’ve seen some shit.”  

His eyebrows raised, a sympathetic look crossed his face.  His hand reached out, his fingers brushing her cheek.  “You don’t want to be involved with me.”  

“Beth. Campbell,” she blurted, blinking fast as time caught up to where they were.  

Robbie reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten, he dropped it on the table and pulled his brother back and out from behind the table amid his protestations.  Tears gathered in her eyes as she watched them leave.  

He paused at the door, his eyes catching hers again.   _ For the last time _ , she thought to herself.  She couldn’t pursue something that was going to bring her more of the same that she’d run away from.  For all she knew, he was one of those enhanced individuals.  The ones like the Avengers.  And as thankful as she was to them, she didn’t want anything to do with that life.  

At least…that’s what she kept telling herself all day long.  Her shift was supposed to end at three, but she volunteered to work a double. She didn’t want to go home.  She sat in the far booth and picked at a patty melt while she ran their entire conversation over and over in her mind.  

She worked the double shift.  She even helped close.  And none of it made her feel any better about not ever seeing her soulmate again.  Her heart ached as she walked out of the  diner. Her feet ached too, but it was nothing compared to her heart.  

Just background noise.  

Much like the rumble of a car engine as she made her way to the bus stop.  She looked up just in time to see Robbie’s face in profile behind the wheel of the car.  It was loud and big, the car.  Mysterious looking.  He turned, locking eyes with her briefly before his lips pressed into a thin line, a semblance of a smile.  He lifted his hand in a wave.  

She walked over to the car, her heart thudding in her chest.  “I thought you were going to leave me alone.”  

“I…can’t.  I needed to make sure you got home alright.”  

She frowned.  “So you don’t want to be with me, but you want to—”  

“I’m going to watch out for you, okay?  I need to know you’re safe, Beth.”  

“That doesn’t sound so monstrous.”  

He shrugged.  

“Are you offering me a ride?”  

He nodded.  

“Okay then.”  Beth got into the car and shut the door behind her, deciding to take whatever he was going to give her.  And then she was going to google the hell out of Robbie Reyes once she got home.    

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/)!


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